The late, great Alfred Apaka‘s 94th-birthday celebration will be held March 17, 3 to 7 p.m., at Hilton Hawaiian Village. The singer’s son Jeff has, as usual, lined up a long list of singers, musicians and hula dancers. The public is invited to the Apaka statue at the Hilton at 3 p.m. when the ceremony gets under way with music and hula by Kai Markell, Aaron Mahi, Mihana Souza, Leinaala Kalama Heine‘s halau Napualeiolikolehua, Pa‘ahana and Kanoe Miller. That will be followed by more performers steps away in the Tapa Bar doing songs made famous by Apaka. The cast includes Jeff, Manoa Madness, Kealoha Kalama, Celtic Bags & Drums of Hawaii, Jeff Au Hoy‘s trio, the Lexington Hotel Dancers with Mona Joy, Queenie Ventura, Kawena Mechler, Richard Natto, Dave Toma, Darren Benitez, John Cruz, Ken Makuakane, Lopaka Colon and more.Emcee is Harry B. Soria Jr. …
A BRIGHT DAY: The Castle Performing Arts Center organization will celebrate its 50th anniversary and honor founder Ron Bright April 7 at Castle High’s Bright Theater in Kaneohe. Bright, who spent many years as the school’s theater director, directed his first show for Castle in 1963. In those days the Castle Theatre Guild shows were produced on the Ben Parker School’s cafeteria stage. In 1980 the newly constructed auditorium at Castle presented its first show, with Bright directing "West Side Story." Karen Meyer is carrying on Bright’s legacy. The celebration for Bright and CPAC will be held at the closing matinee of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." The musical is directed by Meyer, who has a cast of 45 students from five Oahu schools performing big production numbers, backed by a live orchestra. For ticket info, contact Meyer at 233-5626 …
WHO’S GOT the beef? La Pietra has it and will auction it off Saturday during the school’s Hoopla fundraiser. Butchered beef, between 435 and 485 pounds of it, will be cut and packaged to the winning bidder’s specifications.
The frozen cuts will be shipped from Hawaii island. Things get under way on the school’s Great Lawn at 5:30 p.m. with cocktails and a silent auction. Dinner and the live auction follow at 6:30 p.m. Entertaining will be the "The Rat Pack Is Back" from Las Vegas, bringing to life the era of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin and Marilyn Monroe. Tickets are $300. Call Mike Moses at 922-2744, ext. 231, or emailmmoses@ lapietra.edu for tickets …
PBS HAWAII will broadcast the television premiere of "Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings" Tuesday at 8 p.m., two months ahead of its national release. The one-hour documentary is part of a live pledge broadcast hosted by PBS Hawaii President and CEO Leslie Wilcox. Produced by the Center for Asian American Media and Pacific Islanders in Communications, the film follows the performer on tour from Los Angeles to New York and Japan.
Back home in Hawaii, the documentary traces the beginning of Jake’s ukulele career from the time his mother gave him lessons at the age of 4 …
Ben Wood, who sold newspapers on Honolulu streets in World War II, writes of people, places and things. Email him at bwood@staradvertiser.com.
